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Gender associates with both susceptibility to infection and pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 in Syrian hamster.

ABSTRACT: Epidemiological studies of the COVID-19 patients have suggested the male bias in outcomes of lung illness. To experimentally demonstrate the epidemiological results, we performed animal studies to infect male and female Syrian hamsters with SARS-CoV-2. Remarkably, high viral titer in nasal washings was detectable in male hamsters who presented symptoms of weight loss, weakness, piloerection, hunched back and abdominal respiration, as well as severe pneumonia, pulmonary edema, consolidation, and fibrosis. In contrast with the males, the female hamsters showed much lower shedding viral titers, moderate symptoms, and relatively mild lung pathogenesis. The obvious differences in the susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 and severity of lung pathogenesis between male and female hamsters provided experimental evidence that SARS-CoV-2 infection and the severity of COVID-19 are associated with gender.

SUBMITTER: Yuan L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8009924 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Gender associates with both susceptibility to infection and pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 in Syrian hamster.

Yuan Lunzhi L Zhu Huachen H Zhou Ming M Ma Jian J Chen Rirong R Chen Yao Y Chen Liqiang L Wu Kun K Cai Minping M Hong Junping J Li Lifeng L Liu Che C Yu Huan H Zhang Yali Y Wang Jia J Zhang Tianying T Ge Shengxiang S Zhang Jun J Yuan Quan Q Chen Yixin Y Tang Qiyi Q Chen Honglin H Cheng Tong T Guan Yi Y Xia Ningshao N

Signal transduction and targeted therapy 20210331 1

Epidemiological studies of the COVID-19 patients have suggested the male bias in outcomes of lung illness. To experimentally demonstrate the epidemiological results, we performed animal studies to infect male and female Syrian hamsters with SARS-CoV-2. Remarkably, high viral titer in nasal washings was detectable in male hamsters who presented symptoms of weight loss, weakness, piloerection, hunched back and abdominal respiration, as well as severe pneumonia, pulmonary edema, consolidation, and ...[more]

PMID: 33790236

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Project description:The continuous evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus led to constant developments and efforts in understanding the significance and impacts of SARS-CoV-2 variants on human health. Our study aimed to determine the accumulation of genetic mutations and associated lung pathologies in male and female hamsters infected with the ancestral Wuhan strain of SARS-CoV-2. The present study showed no significant difference in the viral load between male and female hamsters and peak infection was found to be on day four post infection in both sexes of the animals. Live virus particles were detected up to 5 days post infection (dpi) through the TCID-50 assay, while qRT-PCR could detect viral RNA up to 14 dpi from all the infected animals. Further, the determination of the neutralizing antibody titer showed the onset of the humoral immune response as early as 4 dpi in both sexes against SARS-CoV-2, and a significant cross-protection against the delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 was observed. Histopathology showed edema, inflammation, inflammatory cell infiltration, necrosis, and degeneration of alveolar and bronchial epithelium cells from 3 dpi to 14 dpi in both sexes. Furthermore, next-generation sequencing (NGS) showed up to 10 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the SARS-CoV-2 (ancestral Wuhan strain) genome isolated from both male and female hamsters. The mutation observed at the 23014 position (Glu484Asp) in the SARS-CoV-2 genome isolated from both sexes of the hamsters plays a significant role in the antiviral efficacy of small molecules, vaccines, and the Mabs-targeting S protein. The present study shows that either of the genders can be used in the pre-clinical efficacy of antiviral agents against SARS-CoV-2 in hamsters. However, considering the major mutation in the S protein, the understanding of the genetic mutation in SARS-CoV-2 after passing through hamsters is crucial in deciding the efficacy of the antiviral agents targeting the S protein. Importance: Our study findings indicate the accumulation of genomic mutations in SARS-CoV-2 after passing through the Syrian golden hamsters. Understanding the genomic mutations showed that either of the hamster genders can be used in the pre-clinical efficacy of antiviral agents and vaccines.

Project description:Coronaviruses belong to a well-known family of enveloped RNA viruses and the causative agent of the common cold. Although the seasonal coronaviruses do not pose a threat to human life, three members of this family, i.e., SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and recently, SARS-CoV2, may cause severe acute respiratory syndrome that may lead to death. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has already caused more than 4,4 million deaths worldwide. Although much is better understood about the immunopathogenesis of the lung disease, important information about systemic disease is still missing, mainly concerning neurological parameters. In this context, we sought to evaluate immunometabolic changes using in vitro and in vivo models of hamsters infected with SARS-CoV2. Here show that, besides infecting and replicating in glial cells, SARS-CoV2 induces important changes in protein expression and metabolic pathways, specially involved in carbon metabolism, glycolysis, and mitochondrial respiration. Interestingly, many of the differentially expressed proteins during SARS-CoV2 infection overlapped with proteins correlated with neurological diseases, such as Parkinsons's Disease, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Huntington's disease. Metabolic analysis by high resolution real-time respirometry evidenced hyperactivation of glycolysis and mitochondrial respiration, which was confirmed by metabolomics. Brain infection with SARS-CoV2 was confirmed in vivo as hippocampus, cortex and olfactory bulb of infected hamsters were positive for viral genome both at 4 and 7 days post-infection. Unexpectedly, we observed that glutamine was significantly reduced in mixed glial cells infected with SARS-CoV2 and that the blockade of glutaminolysis significantly reduced viral replication and pro-inflammatory response. Altogether, our data confirms the infection of brain cells by SARS-CoV2 but, most importantly, there is an important change in overall protein expression profile, mostly of proteins related to metabolic pathways. This may suggest that some of the neurological impairments observed during COVID-19, as the brain fog and cognitive impairment, may rely on altered protein expression and unbalanced glutamine/glutamate levels, whose importance for adequate brain function is unquestionable.

Dataset Information

Gender associates with both susceptibility to infection and pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 in Syrian hamster.

Publications

Gender associates with both susceptibility to infection and pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 in Syrian hamster.

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